Tuesday, March 27, 2012

The two words that embody this idea are astounding: Word and Image. For
the societies that have inherited age-old Mediterranean cultures, the concept
of Sacred Text comprises the actual idea of Religion, Theology and Piety. We
talk of "Religions of the Book" as if the book was the essence of
those movements. And, in reality, it is.

The scared places of each tradition are important; the founders, the
prophets and the disseminators of each religion are also fundamental; but the
Sacred Texts are the basis of the doctrine, the rites, the norms, the social
organisation, the way of seeing and behaving in the world.

At its origin, almost as ancient as Judaism, we have the Torah, the
Pentateuch in the Christian Greek language, which gives shape to the actual
identity of the Chosen People. More than Religion, the Scared Text was - and is
- the identity of a collective that sees itself in the determinations, in the
Alliances, in the "exoduses" and in the "exiles".

Also nearly as old as Christianity, the beginning of the systematisation
of the Christian canon is the image of centrality inherited from Judaism, when
one looks in the dynamics between texts and communities for the organisation,
the systematisation of the doctrine, or even the creation of bonds and
solidarity among groups.

Despite being profoundly Christian and Catholic, the iconography
presented here is the road to an important means of spirituality. The
relationship between the Scared Text and the images is a feature that is almost
ecumenical, a dimension that is greater than each of the religions or
traditions, which takes shape here in the particular case of the Portuguese
pictographic heritage. The "Word through the Image" is the
acknowledgement of this heritage that shapes the vast identity that is us, in
the broadest and most uniform culture of Southern Europe, of the
Mediterranean.

For millennia, in this basin where civilisations intermingled, and where
gods, beliefs and meanings were exchanged, the images and the words were
combined over time, becoming symbiotic aspects of the same imagery,
complementing the doctrine and the rites.

Today, it is impossible to understand our past, and even our way of
seeing the world, without experiencing the meaning of an Ecce Homo placed in
the shadows of a church, illuminated only by the flickering light of a handful
of candles. How much we have of fears and hopes in the gaze of millions of
beings like us who contemplated, century upon century, powerful images like
this one.

This Word and these images are us, in our ancient and unique culture, in
our anthropology and worldview. Whether we are believers or not. Whether we are
"practising" or not, our heritage has been constructed for two
millennia according to this articulation between texts that is deemed scared
and its representations that accompanied moments of worship, of introspection,
of prayer, of rejoicing or of despair.

The Word and the Image are part of a genetic code that gives shape to a
part of Europe, that runs in the veins of the most dilapidated and revealing
bodies of the millennium-old culture that we inherited.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Journalist by calling and politician by conviction, Manuel de Brito Camacho,
minister for public works of the provisional government of the 1st Republic,
was born in Monte de Mesas, on 12 February 1862, and went to high school in
Beja, before enrolling in a Medicine course, at the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica, in
Lisbon.
In 1885 he began attending the Republican Party congresses and in 1906 he
founded the A Lucta periodical, the first propaganda tool of the Republic. His
sharp and incisive pen, which places public wellbeing above the private and
does not shy away from party interests, creates some enemies, on the left and
the right of the political spectrum.
His tenacity, his rigour and an immaculate political patriotism, however, make
him a tutelary figure of the Republican Union Party, which he establishes in
1911.
Between the years of 1921 and 1923 he takes on the role of High Commissioner of
the Republic, in Mozambique. In this capacity he is responsible for important
reforms in the education and health systems of the former colony.
Once he retired from political life, Brito Camacho celebrates his homeland in
part of the literary work which fills the last years of his life. He died in
Lisbon, on 19 September 1934.

Marcos Portugal (1762 – 1830)
The most prolific and international of Portuguese composers, Marcos Portugal,
was born in Lisbon, in 1762.
At the service of Queen D. Maria I and King D. João VI, he creates sacred
works for the royal chapels’ festivities.
However, it is for writing comic operas – opera “buffa” – that his name gains
international recognition. Marcos Portugal moves to Italy, in 1792, where he
premiers more than 20 operas, some of which guaranteed his success in key
European cities.
Upon his return to Portugal in 1800, he becomes master of the Seminário da
Patriarcal and maestro of the Real Teatro de S. Carlos, where he composes some
“serious” operas performed, for the most part, by Angelica Catalani.
Following the court’s departure for Brazil, Marcos Portugal moves to Rio de
Janeiro, in 1811, taking on the responsibilities of master of His Royal
Highnesses. In 1820 he was awarded the Comenda da Ordem de Cristo. When the
Portuguese court returns, he does not follow but remains at the service of his
pupil, the Emperor D. Pedro I of Brazil. He died in 1830, in Rio de Janeiro. He
is the author of Brazil’s Independence Anthem.

António Vilar (1912 – 1995)
The man who lent his face to some of the most emblematic characters of the
Portuguese literary and cultural pantheon – from the ruthless D. Pedro to the
worldly Camões – was born on 13 October 1912, in Lisbon. Before making a name
for himself in front of the cameras, he was a radio singer, reporter for O
Século, bank clerk and assistant director.
Despite small cinema roles, his real debut came with the film Feitiço do
Império, in a performance that did not go unnoticed. Two years later, António
Vilar played his first leading role, as Carlos Bonito, in the unmissable O
Pátio das Cantigas.
From strength to strength, Vilar consolidates his career with an increasingly
enthusiastic reception from the critics. The roles of Pedro, the Cruel, in Inês
de Castro, and of Camões, in the homonymous film by Leitão de Barros that
premiered in 1946, opened up a world of opportunities.
In the following years, António Vilar worked in Argentina, Italy, Brazil, the
United States of America, France and Spain, where he settled down at the end of
the 1940s and where he starred in around 40 films.
Plentifully blessed, the actor dedicates his last years to the dream of
producing a film about Ferdinand Magellan, funded with his own money. Even
though the dream of bringing the explorer’s achievements to the big screen did
not come true, we are left with a replica of a ship that was donated, upon his
death, to the collection of the National Commission of the Portuguese
Discoveries.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

The Escola do Exército was created
on 12 January 1837 by marquis Sá da Bandeira, being the most distinguished
predecessor of the current Academia Militar. After the Restoration, King João
IV created the Lição de Artilharia e Esquadria, in 1641, which can be
considered the first school aimed at training higher military personnel. It was followed by the Aula de
Fortificação e Arquitectura Militar, the Academia Militar da Corte, the
Academia Real de Marinha and the Real Colégio dos Nobres. In 1790, Queen
Maria I, created the Academia Real de Fortificação, Artilharia e Desenho,
considered as the “first truly scientific school aimed at higher education in
subject matters of interest to officers of the Portuguese army”.

In 1837, in an atmosphere of great political unrest and instability, marquis Sá
da Bandeira (who was a former student of the Academia Real), created the Escola
do Exército, as part of a vast and profound reform of the Portuguese Higher
Education. The teaching method was compared to the method of
the Universidade Portuguesa and its teachers enjoyed the same honours and
categories. The Escola do Exército, initially set up in the Real Colégio dos
Nobres, was later transferred to another location in Lisbon and took up its
current premises at Paço da Rainha (or Bemposta) in 1851.

After having undergone successive restructurings (Escola do Exército 1837-1910,
Escola de Guerra 1911-
-1919, Escola Militar 1919-1938 and again Escola do Exército 1938-1959), the
Academia Militar was created on 12 February 1959 with the aim of preparing Army
and Air Force officers and, since then, its courses have, “for general
purposes, been of the same standing as other higher education courses”.
The law creating the Academia Militar refers the 12 of January as the
“anniversary of the establishment of the Escola do Exército”, that will
celebrate its 175th anniversary in 2012. With headquarters in Lisbon and a
detachment in Amadora, it is the Academia Militar’s mission, as a public
military university/higher education institution to train the Army’s and the
Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR)’s core staff.

The Academia Militar, it provides
the future officers with the competences necessary for the missions carried out
by the Army and by the GNR, furthering individual development for the
performance of command and management duties. In harmony with the Bologna
process, the Academia Militar awards its officers a master degree, thus
promoting the Escola do Exército, that over the last 175 years has had several
of its students occupying high State positions – seven became Presidents of the
Portuguese Republic – particularly in operations in the African Campaigns, in
World War I, in the Overseas Campaigns and more recently in as varied
operational theatres as Bosnia, Kosovo, Angola, Mozambique, Somalia, Timor,
Iraq and Afghanistan.

With this philatelic issue, the CTT
joins in the celebration of the 175th anniversary of the Escola do Exército,
thus acknowledging the Army (Airforce up to 1982 and since 1991 the GNR)
officers headquarters’ indispensable contribution to the training of leaders
who, with the feather and the sword, so expertly have built and advanced
Portugal in the concert of Nations.

Academia Militar

Technical Details

Date of Issue: 12 January 2012

Values: Stamps of €0,32; €0,68 and a souvenir sheet with one stamp of
€2,50

Saturday, March 17, 2012

China
2011 is the third FIAP international stamp exhibition to be held in China since
the two successful exhibitions in 1996 and 2003. It will take place from 11 to
15 November 2011 and aims to promote the development of philately throughout
Asia.

The
exhibition is being held under the patronage of the Federation of Inter-Asian
Philately and with recognition from the Fédération Internationale de
Philatélie. 31 countries and regions will be participating in what will be one
of the largest events on the 2011philatelic calendar.

More
than 250,000 international visitors are expected to visit the city of Wuxi to
attend China 2011. Wuxi lies on the southern border of Jiangsu Province, about
128 kilometers northwest of Shanghai.